Storyboards First: How We Pitch a Film Before We Shoot It
Mary Horsepower and Roller Suzie exist as concept reels, not footage. Here's why we build the tone first, and what we're honest about.
Two of the films in our lineup, Mary Horsepower and Roller Suzie, don't have a shoot date yet. They do have concept reels. This post is about why.
The problem with a script and a dream
A script tells you what happens. It doesn't tell you what it feels like: how fast the cuts are, how loud the desert is, how bright the rink lights get when the starlet loses again. Producers, cast, and crew all read a script differently. A reel gives everyone the same picture to argue about.
What's in the reels
Mary Horsepower is the story of a western woman who discovers a muscle car in the desert. Out of her time, she learns to drive it and goes on an existential road trip to figure out what her own life means.
Roller Suzie follows an 80s roller derby starlet who suffers the first of many defeats and has to face ageing in a fringe sport that she loves.
Both films are in development. Writer and director are still to be announced, and we're assembling the cast.
How we make them
The previews are assembled from AI-assisted storyboards. We use them to explore tone and pacing: framing, rhythm, color, and music cues. We say so plainly on each film page, because we think audiences deserve to know what they're looking at. A concept reel is a sketch. It isn't a promise of final visuals, and it isn't a substitute for the people who will actually make the films.
Principal photography is a separate stage, with real cinematographers, real stunt coordinators, and real roller skates.
What a reel is good for
- Pitching. It's much easier to explain a western about a muscle car when someone can see the car.
- Casting conversations. Actors can react to a world, not just a page.
- Cheap mistakes. If a scene drags in a storyboard, we find out for free. If it drags on a shoot day, we find out for thousands.
- Finding collaborators. Some of the best conversations we have start with someone saying "I'd shoot that."
If you want to be one of those people, tell us about it through Join the Heist.